I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Back in June last year, I posted up an article for the song "Dr. Yellow"（Dr.イエロー）by MoJo on hearing the announcement that the famous and beloved specialized train for diagnostics on the Bullet Trains was going to be retired over the next few years. However, when I watched NHK news this morning, it looks like JR Central's Dr. Yellow had its final run today (the one belonging to JR West will be retired in 2027).
Not surprisingly, there were huge billowing masses of fans at the final stop and any place where photographers could get a glimpse and shot of the yellow Shinkansen to say goodbye. On the NHK report, there was even a focus on one photographer who had become friends of a family whose young son had been suffering from leukemia. The photographer was able to get one final shot of Dr. Yellow in tribute to the boy who had passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 11.
I was thinking of paying a further tribute to Dr. Yellow but outside of the MoJo song, there doesn't seem to be any other kayo devoted to the train. Therefore, I've decided to put up an Author's Pick on providing songs of gratitude as I'm sure that a lot of the fans have their feelings of thanks toward the train.
I think along with "arigato"（ありがとう）and "onegaishimasu"（お願いします）, the one other phrase that folks who want to start communicating with the Japanese should internalize is "osewa ni narimashita". That expression means "Thank you for your hospitality/help", and if you've had a service provided to you by friends or host family, this is the phrase to use.
Last week on "Uta Con"（うたコン）during the tribute to master composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, I heard a very sweet oh-so-70s kayo with that same expression as the title. One of the princes of enka, Keisuke Yamauchi（山内恵介）, and veteran entertainer Masaaki Sakai（堺正章）took care of "Osewa ni Narimashita" as this friendly song that was made by Tsutsumi in such a way that would make it appealing to kids.
But it was Sakai's old bandmate from The Spiders（ザ・スパイダース）, Jun Inoue（井上順）, who sang the original version as his 2nd single from September 1971 after his successful solo debut of "Kino - Kyo - Ashita"（昨日・今日・明日）. Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）provided the lyrics about a fellow who is going after his dreams but also gives his thanks to the people who had taken care of him in the neighbourhood such as the landlady of the boarding house he lived in.
According to J-Wiki, Tsutsumi based the song on Inoue's own character with some influence from the happy-go-lucky opening theme song to the anime "Sazae-san"（サザエさん）that he also created (good golly, I forgot about that one...Tsutsumi has composed everything!). "Osewa ni Narimashita" peaked at No. 17 on Oricon.
Tsutsumi also did right by Inoue's buddy, Sakai, by giving him his own hit single.
Last week on NHK's "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）, the theme was happy and encouraging songs. Considering that the 5th anniversary of the Tohoku Earthquake was upcoming at the time, I think the show wanted to bring something uplifting in terms of kayo kyoku.
Chris Hart came up with something quite nice in the form of "Kino - Kyo -Ashita" (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow). Totally upbeat, it was originally sung by TV mainstay Jun Inoue（井上順）as his debut single from April 1971. Inoue was part of the Group Sounds band The Spiders and then later became a co-host for the very long-running music program "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）on Fuji-TV among his other appearances on the telly. However, he was still releasing solo singles throughout the years up until 2003.
Written by the same duo who would later come up with all those hits for Pink Lady, Yu Aku and Shunichi Tokura（阿久悠・都倉俊一）, Inoue sang how no matter the time period, things would always be copacetic with the world. I don't think I can be quite that happy with life but it's nice to believe that there are probably a lot of people who are that optimistic. Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子）also came up with her own cover although I couldn't track down when she recorded it. As for the original version by Inoue, it managed to sell more than 300,000 records.
